The U.S. Justice Department is now open to the idea of reviving the union of immigration judges, which was dissolved during Trump’s final months.
Immigration courts will be the center of any effort to reform a system that is almost dysfunctional with a backlog exceeding 1.3 million cases. As a result, large numbers of children and families have made their way to the border to seek asylum. These claims can often take many years to resolve.
The Federal Labor Relations Authority ruled in November that nearly 500 immigration judges from the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review were managers and ineligible for collective negotiations rights.
Under pressure from labor groups, Democrats in Congress and the Justice Department, the Justice Department informed the labor relations board Friday in a short filing that it had no objection to the National Association of Immigration Judges’ efforts to reclaim its authority.
In a Tuesday statement, the judges’ union stated that it believed the move would result in the restoration of bargaining rights and reverse the Trump administration’s attempt to silence judges. The union was previously decertified in an earlier attempt, but it prevailed in front of the labor relations board again in 2000.
Trump’s administration placed measures on courts to increase efficiency and not compromise rights to fair hearings. However, these measures often alienated the judges union, who became a vocal critic. For satisfactory job performance ratings, judges were required to complete 700 cases per year and they were prohibited from indefinitely suspending cases.
Judges are Justice Department employees and report to the attorney general. He sets guidelines and policies for how judges should rule in cases. Independent courts have been a goal of the union, which is something that the Biden administration has rejected.
